Display case



Ap 1951 R. G. ANNAN 2,547,244

DISPLAY CASE Filed Feb. 5, 1950 IN V EN TOR. P05520540 6. cQ/VNA/V.

' 17:56 7' TOP/YE K Patented Apr. 3, 1951 2,547,244 DISPLAY CASE Roberdeau G. Arman, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application February 3, 1950, Serial No. 142,274 (01. 40-125).

4 Claims.

' This invention relates to display cases, especially those suitable for advertising purposes.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide'a display case in which use is made of the instinctive tunneling habits of a colony of live ants to expose to view and delineate a desired design.

It is a further object of this invention tocreate an illusion that the particular design so exposed and delineated has been created spontaneously by the ants themselves.

In accordance with this invention, the display case comprises a box of the type commonly used to house a colony of live ants and is provided with a transparent front wall of considerable area through which their activity can be observed. Disposed within the box and partially filling it is ablock of material that is highly resistant or substantially impervious to tunneling by ants. This bock is provided with a preformed passage or passages of desired design, such as the name of I a product to be advertised, bounded on one side by the transparent front wall of the box, so that the passage will be visible to an observer. The passage communicates with the interior of the box above the block, as by one or more preformed tunnels in the block, to permit ants to have access to the design passage. The latter is initially filled with granular or other filler material that is easily tunneled and transported by ants. This filler material has preferably the same appearance as the exposed front surface of the block, so that the design formed by the design passage is not initially discernible to an observer. However, when a colony of live ants is placed in'the compartment above the block and commence to tunnel, as they are driven by instinct to do, they must confine their tunneling operations to the preformed passages in the block, and necessarily will delineate and expose to View the desired design.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of the display case before the ants have commenced tunneling operations; Fig. 2 is a perspective view after the ants have tunneled out the design pas-.

sages; and Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of the display case along the line III-HI in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, a box I of the usual type for housing an ant colony is provided with a front wall 2 of transparent material, such as glass. The bottom, sides, and back wall may likewise be of glass, or they may be of other, even opaque, material. The top of the box is closed. by a removable lid 3 containing ventilating holes l. Disposed within the box and partially filling it is a block 5 made of a substance that is highly resistant or substantially impervious to tunneling by ants, such as cement, wood, resins, or other ant resistant substances. The block is provided with preformed passages 6 cut into the front surface of the block to form the specific design that it is desired to display. In the embodiment shown this design is the word LUX; but, of course, any desired work or symbol can be similarly formed. The open sides of the design passages are bounded and closed by the transparent front wall 2 of the box when the block is placed therein, so that ants may be confined within those passages and yet their activity therein may be observed, Communication between the design passages 6 and the com partment 1 above the block is provided by two shaft tunnels 8 and 9; the number and arrangement of these tunnels may be varied, or they can be dispensed with altogether if the design passages communicate directly at one or more points with the compartment. The shaft tunnels 8 and 9 are preferably entirely within the block 5, and not observable from without, so that their presence will not obscure the legibility of the design. For the same reason, it is desirable to provide communicating tunnels l0 wholly, within the block to connect the separate letters of the design.

The design passages 6 are initially filled with granular, or other finely divided, filler material l2, that is easily tunneled and transported by ants, such as sand, earth, or other substances in which ants customarily burrow. Some of this same material may be sprinkled on top of the block 5 and in the shaft tunnels 3 and 9. Too much of this material, however, should not be placed above the block, since it is desired that the ants in obeying their instinct to tunnel will necessarily confine their tunneling activity as much as possible to the design passages.

In operation, the display case is assembled as above described and a colony of live ants (not shown) is placed in the compartment 1. Driven by instinct, they search out and find the shaft tunnels 8 and 9 and commence to tunnel therein, carrying out the filler material and piling it as debris around the mouth of the shaft. Their tunneling will continue into and through the passages 6, clearly delineating the design of those passages to an observer. These passages are pref erably so contrived that dead ends therein, such as the upright part of the letter L shown in the drawing, will be above portions of the passage necessarily traversed by the ants. If the filler material in these dead end passages is only loosely packed therein, the material will fall into the passage below as soon as the latter is partially cleared by the ants and will continue to fall until it has all been removed. In this way, it is possible to assure complete delineation of the design.

To heighten interest in the display and to create the illusion that the design is created spontaneously by the ants themselves, it is desirable that the block 5 should have the same appearance through the glass of the box as does the granular or other filler material 12 initially present in the design passages. When that is so, as shown in Fig. 1, the design is not initially discernible to an observer and is only delineated and exposed to view as the ants in their tunneling operations remove filler material from the passages. between the block and the filler material can be obtained in various ways, for example by using filler material consisting of finely divided particles of the same substance as the block, or, as shown in Fig. 3, by cementing a layer of filler material to the front surface of the block adjacent the transparent wall 2 to form a coating E? that is thin enough to prevent ants from tunneling therein along the face of the block.

It is an advantage of this invention that it pro-- vides a novel antimated display case, which, in addition to the interest normally aroused by the activity of a colony of live ants, creates an iilu sion'that even ants are endowed with sumcient intelligence and discrimination to pick out in their tunneling operations a design naming the commercial product of their sponsor. When the design is only partially picked out, while the ants are still engaged in their tunneling, wonder and suspense are aroused among observers. When com- 1 pleted, the design is emphasized by the continued activity of the ants traveling through the passages and carrying on the routine functions of the colony. If desired, the design passages may be refilled from time to time with the filler material, and the tunneling started afresh.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what now consider to represent its best embodiment.

However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be-practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A display case comprising a box adapted .to house a colony of live ants and provided with a transparent front wall; a block, which is substantially impervious to tunneling by ants, disposed within the box, the block being provided with a preformed passage of specific design that is bounded on one side by the transparent .wall of the box and communicates with the interior of The desired similarity in appearance 4.- the box above the block; and filler material, which is easily tunneled by ants, filling the design passage, whereby ants placed within the box above the block will in tunneling therein be necessarily confined to removing the easily tunneled filler material from the design passage.

2. A display case according to claim 1, in which the filler material and the front surface of the block that is exposed to view through the transparent wall of the box have the same appearance to an observer, so that the design of the preformed passage in the block when initially filled with filler material is not clearly delineated or exposed to view until ants housed within the box have removed the filler material from the passage by tunneling.

3. A display case comprising a box adapted to house a colony of live ants and provided with a transparent front wall; a block, which is substantially impervious to tunneling by ants, disposed within the box, the block being provided with a preformed passage of desired design that is bounded on one side by the transparent wall of the box and communicates with the interior of the box above the block; filler material which is easily tunneled by ants, disposed within and fill.- ing the design passages; and a thin layer of said filler material disposed between the block and the transparent wall of the box to give the design passage initially the same appearance as the ad.- jacent surface of the block, whereby ants placed within the box above the block will in tunnel.- ing therein be necessarily confined to removing the easily tunneled filler material from the design passage and will expose to view and delineate its design.

4. A display case comprising a box adapted to house a colony of live ants and provided with a front wall of transparent material a block, which is substantially impervious to tunneling by ants disposed in the box and partially filling it, the block being provided with preformed separate passages forming a desired designbounded on one side by the transparent wall of the box; prerformed tunnels within the block connecting at least one of the design passages with the interior of the box above the block and interconnepting adjacent design passages; fillermateriai, which is easily tunneled'by ants, disposed inandfilling the design passages; a thin layer-of filler material between the front surface .of the block and the transparent wall of the box to give -the frontsurs face of the block the sarneyinitiai appearance as the design passages, whereby ants housed in the box above the block will in tunneling therein be necessarily confined to. the preformed tunnels and passages in the block and will remove the easily tunneled ma ial rom the p s ages and e pose to viewa d elinea th desi n o hos passages.

EOBE EAU No references cited. 

